London has suffered the worst falls in payroll jobs as the UK economy stalls under Labour.
The capital accounts for eight of the 10 biggest local declines in employees over the past year. In Westminster there has been a 3.2 per cent reduction on company books.
The picture is similarly bleak for the headline unemployment measure. The rate for January to March was 6.2 per cent in London – often regarded as the engine of the British economy – up 1.6 percentage points on the same period last year.
The overall UK rate was 4.5 per cent and has only gone up 0.2 percentage points, according to the latest data.
The figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) yesterday fuelled alarm about a slowdown amid Rachel Reeves‘ tax raid hit and minimum wage rises.
The Chancellor has made growth her central mission but critics say the policies, together with Donald Trump‘s trade war, have crushed activity.
The early estimates for payroll numbers were down 33,000 in April, having dropped 106,000 in the past year to 30.3million.
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Vacancies also tumbled 42,000 over the quarter, to 761,000 in the three months from February to April. The ONS warned that the rate of decline appeared to be increasing.
Unemployment was nudging up even before the National Insurance hike and increases in the minimum wage took effect last month.
The rate rose to 4.5 per cent in the three months to March, from 4.4 per cent in the three months to February.
The highest unemployment rate for January to March was in London at 6.2 per cent, with the lowest just 1.6 per cent in Northern Ireland.
Only Wales has seen a bigger annual rise in the rate, at 1.8 per cent.
Since April last year the number of payrolled employees has decreased for all regions except for Northern Ireland, which has seen a 1.1 per cent rise.
But the picture is worst in London, where Labour’s Sadiq Khan is mayor. Nine areas have seen falls of more than 1 per cent in numbers on company books.
Alongside Westminster, they are Camden and City of London, Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham, Brent, Haringey & Islington, Lambeth, Tower Hamlets, Lewisham & Southwark and Ealing.
ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said yesterday that the labour market was ‘cooling, with the number of employees on payroll falling in the first quarter of the year’.
‘The number of job vacancies has also fallen again, with the rate of decline increasing in the last few months,’ she added.
The Tories have warned that ‘Labour’s Jobs Tax’ and business rates hike are putting an ‘intolerable burden on employers’.
They have raised concerns that the impending Employment Rights Bill will ‘choke businesses in red tape’ and ‘things are only going to get worse’.
Numbers on payrolls were down 33,000 in April according to early estimates, having dropped 106,000 in the past year to 30.3million
Vacancies also tumbled 42,000 over the quarter, to 761,000 in the three months from February to April
